Graduate School Attendance Is up, but Wage Premium Steady

The number of Americans who have attended graduate school at some point has surged 24% since the recession. But the return on their investment — the gap between their earnings and those of high-school grads with no college — narrowed a bit in the post-recession period, new Census data show.

Roughly 36 million people in the U.S. had some graduate school under their belts (though not necessarily an advanced degree) in early 2013, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. That’s up from 29 million in early 2008, during the recession.

Enrollment in college and graduate school typically picks up when the economy is weak because many people decide to attend school to improve their skills rather than endure a sluggish labor market. Overall, the number of Americans with at least some college, including undergrad and grad school, rose 11% since 2008 to 121 million in 2013.

But there was a downside. Just as more people received degrees, a lot of students entered graduate programs but never completed them. The number of people with some graduate school but no degree jumped 38% from 2008 to 2013.

The rise in enrollment varied across programs. For example, the number of Americans with an associate’s degree increased almost 19% between 2008 and 2013. Those who had earned a bachelor’s degree, but with no graduate school, climbed just 3%.

A defining feature of the U.S. recovery is that unemployment has remained historically high. That has left many college graduates in jobs outside their fields or that pay less than those workers would earn during healthier times. Workers’ pay, even among many college grads, hasn’t kept up with the rise in prices.

Those with advanced degrees still earn far more, on average, than other workers. But their earnings relative to high-school graduates dipped during the recovery.

On average, Americans with an advanced degree who worked full-time, year-round earned $89,253 in 2012. That’s about 2.7 times more than the $32,630 earned, on average, by high-school grads with no college.

That premium has dipped since 2009, when full-time workers with advanced degrees earned 2.8 times the pay of high-school grads.

Meanwhile, those with only a bachelor’s degree earned, on average, $60,159 in 2012. Those with at least some college or an associate’s degree earned $35,943, and those who hadn’t completed high school earned $21,622.

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